For any library that invests in IGI Global's InfoSci-Books and/or InfoSci-Journals databases, IGI Global will match the library’s investment with a fund of equal value to go toward subsidizing the OA APCs for their faculty patrons when their work is submitted/accepted under OA into an IGI Global journal.

Subscribe to the Latest Research Through IGI Global's InfoSci-OnDemand Plus

InfoSci®-OnDemand Plus, a subscription-based service, provides researchers the ability to access full-text content from over 100,000+ peer-reviewed book chapters and 25,000+ scholarly journal articles that spans across 350+ topics in 11 core subjects. Users can select articles or chapters that meet their interests and gain access to the full content permanently in their personal online InfoSci-OnDemand Plus library.

Purchase the Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition

and Receive Complimentary E-Books of Previous Editions

When ordering directly through IGI Global's Online Bookstore, receive the complimentary e-books for the first, second, and third editions with the purchase of the Encyclopedia of Information Science and Technology, Fourth Edition e-book.

Create a Free IGI Global Library Account to Receive a 25% Discount on All Purchases

Exclusive benefits include one-click shopping, flexible payment options, free COUNTER 5 reports and MARC records, and a 25% discount on single all titles, as well as the award-winning InfoSci®-Databases.

Abstract

Wireless connected health is the most current, inclusive phrase to describe healthcare that incorporates wireless technologies and/or mobile devices. It represents one of the fastest growing sectors in the global mobile and wireless ecosystem, with extraordinary change occurring daily. According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent of people in greatest medical need live in low- to middle-income countries. Not enough has been written about how they will afford wireless connected health, or how it can bring positive benefits to patients everywhere with non-lethal chronic illnesses. It also remains to be seen whether people outside the healthcare industry, without any special interest in science, technology, medicine, or illness prevention, will adopt new and future behavior-changing connected health technologies. This chapter provides a current overview of the global health crises created by noncommunicable diseases, explains the evolution of the global wireless connected health sector, includes information about BRICS nations, and offers observations, insights, and recommendations from a socio-economic and political standpoint for responsible and effective future industry growth.

Introduction

Wireless connected health is the most current and inclusive phrase to describe personal healthcare that incorporates mobile devices and/or wireless technologies. It represents one of the fastest growing sectors in the mobile and wireless ecosystem, with extraordinary change occurring daily.

Today, simply by using their smartphones, people around the world can watch their diets, track their exercise, log their sleep, access motivational fitness coaches and/or programs, and do myriad other things to support lifelong wellness.

Rapid advances in technology now make possible a global initiative to ultimately eradicate disease by empowering individuals to make informed, positive lifestyle choices that are disease-preventive. This bodes well not only for increased human longevity, but also, and perhaps even more importantly, for improved quality of life (WHO, 2013a).

The early literature and focus concerning the advent of wireless connected health addressed the successful linkage of systems and networks so machines could communicate with machines, and data – specifically, a patient’s electronic health record (EHR) – could be accessed ubiquitously (Chronaki et al., 2007).

Two excellent studies (Spyridonis, Ghinea and Frank, 2013; Kristjánsdóttir et al., 2013) address pain as a significant component of many chronic illnesses and how wireless and mobile technologies can help alleviate this aspect of noncommunicable chronic disease (NCD).

Unfortunately, too few papers focus on ways the changing healthcare landscape affects the end-user as a patient, beyond becoming a personal source of biological data points. One that does is “Telecare, Surveillance, and the Welfare State” (Sorrell & Draper, 2012), which examines whether or not bringing a variety of health and wellness monitoring devices into the sanctity of the home strips individuals living there of autonomy, depersonalizes their care and, as an unintended consequence, actually increases their isolation.

Another excellent paper, entitled “How places matter: Telecare technologies and the changing spatial dimensions of healthcare,” (Oudshoorn, 2012, p.124) argues that “Places are not only important because assumptions about the contexts of use are inscribed in technologies…. They also matter because places shape how technological devices are used, or not, and (de)stabilize the specific identities of technologies. Equally important, technologies participate in redefining the meaning and practices of the spaces in which they are used and…introduce new spaces in which people and objects interact.” The author goes onto say, “The idea that places matter thus provides an important point of departure for an investigation of how reciprocal relationships between people, places and technologies enable or constrain the identities of users, places and technologies (Oudshoorn, 2012, p. 124).”